William Hughes Mearns (1875-1965) was an American educator and poet. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, Mearns was a Professor at the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy from 1905-1920. Mearns is remembered now as the author of the poem “Antigonish” a well known rhyme, composed in 1899 as a song for a play he had written called The Psyco-ed. The play was performed in 1910 and the poem was first published as “Antigonish” in 1922. The poem also appeared in the movie Identity.
Yesterday upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
“Antigonish” (1899)
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